"I shall require," he said, "your code, the keys of your safe, which contains a great many documents of interest to me, and a free entry into your house." De Grost drew a bunch of keys reluctantly from his pocket and laid them upon the desk. "You will find the code bound in green morocco leather," he announced, "on the left-hand side, underneath the duplicate of a proposed Treaty between Italy and--some other Power. Between ourselves, Bernadine, I really expect that that is what you are after." Bernadine's eyes glistened. "What about the safe conduct into your house?" he asked. De Grost drew his case from his pocket and wrote a few lines on the back of one of his cards. "This will ensure you entrance there," he said, "and access to my study. If you see my wife, please reassure her as to my absence." "I shall certainly do so," Bernadine agreed, with a faint smile. "If I may be pardoned for alluding to a purely personal matter," de Grost continued, "what is to become of me?" "You will be bound and gagged in the same manner as your manager and his clerk," Bernadine replied smoothly. "I regret the necessity, but you see I can afford to run no risks. At four o'clock in the morning you will be released. It must be part of our agreement that you allow the man who stays behind the others for the purpose of setting you free, to depart unmolested. I think I know you better than to imagine you would be guilty of such _gaucherie_ as an appeal to the police." "That, unfortunately," de Grost declared, with a little sigh, "is, as you well know, out of the question. You are too clever for me, Bernadine. After all, I shall have to go back to my farm." Bernadine opened the door and called softly to one of his men. In less than five minutes de Grost was bound hand and foot. Bernadine stepped back and eyed his adversary with an air of ill-disguised triumph. "I trust, Baron de Grost," he said, "that you will be as comfortable as possible under the circumstances." De Grost lay quite still. He was powerless to move or speak. "Immediately," Bernadine continued, "I have presented myself at your house, verified your safe conduct, and helped myself to certain papers which I am exceedingly anxious to obtain," he went on, "I shall telephone here to the man whom I leave in charge, and you will be set at liberty in due course. If, for any reason, I meet with treachery and I do not telephone, you will join Mr. Greening and his young companion in a little--shall we call it aquatic recreation? I wish you a pleasant hour and success in the future, Baron--as a farmer." Bernadine withdrew and whispered his orders to his men. Soon the electric light was turned out and the place was in darkness. The front door was opened and closed; the group of confederates upon the pavement lit cigarettes and wished one another "Good-night" with the brisk air of tired employees released at last from long labours. Then there was silence.